Jay Leno
Category Entertainers
Industry Television
What Makes Him Haute The Emmy-award winning stand-up comedian and talk show host is an eminent fixture of American pop-culture. From President-elect Barrack Obama to Lindsay Lohan, Leno has hosted them all, and the announcement that he will move into the coveted 10 p.m. prime-time slot guarantees that he’ll continue to be a fixture on our televisions nightly after he departs The Tonight Show in 2009.

Robert Maguire III
Category Billionaires
Industry Real Estate
Company Maguire Properties Inc.
What Makes Them Haute He founded Maguire Properties in 1965 and developed major commercial property in downtown L.A. He stepped down as chairman just this year after a futile attempt at taking the company private, although he still owns 16.5 percent of shares with an estimated value of $100 million. He also owns property in prime locations of L.A., Dallas, and at the Barnett Shale gas reserve in Texas,

Alfred Mann
Category Billionaires
Industry Health Care
Company MannKind Corporation
What Makes Him Haute The health care entrepreneur-turned-billionaire literally is behind some of the greatest medical innovations of the century, including pacemakers, cochlear implants, and insulin pumps. He sold his insulin pump company MiniMed in 2001 for $3.1 billion. He is actively involved in funding the future of bio meds by donating $100 million to USC 1998 and $100 million to Purdue U. in 2007. Mann is currently chairman of the board of trustees of the Alfred Mann Foundation and of the Alfred Mann Institutes at the University of Southern California, Purdue University, and The Technion Institute (Israel).

John McMonigle
Category Entrepreneur
Industry Real Estate
Company McMonigle Group
What Makes Him Haute The principal of his eponymous luxury real estate outfit, McMonigle has overseen four straight years of being Coldwell Banker’s No. 1 sales team. In the last five years, the group made history by selling more than $1 billion, and McMonigle himself has been recognized as the top-selling agent in the nation.

Richard Meruelo
Category Entrepreneurs
Industry Property Management
Company Meruelo Maddux Properties
What Makes Him Haute Meruelo co-founded this residential, commercial, and industrial real estate firm, which is the largest private land owner in downtown L.A.

Gary Michelson
Category Billionaires
Industry Medicine
Company Found Animals
What Makes Him Haute Michelson found his fortune by licensing tools that are often integral to the completion of complicated back surgery. He then enforced his patents in two legal cases, one of which resulted in $1.35 billion settlement. He now uses his fortune for charities and is working on a solution for the large number of unwanted pets in the U.S., focusing on the Los Angeles area.

Michael Milken
Category Billionaires
Industry Finance, Philanthropy
Company Milken Family Foundation/Milken Institute/Melanoma Research Alliance
What Makes Him Haute Responsible for creating the market for junk bonds during the 1970s and 1980s, this financier spent a brief stint in prison for finance-related charges, and since his release has donated more than $1 billion to medical research. He currently has a net worth of $2.5 billion.

Doug Morris
Category Entrepreneurs
Industry Music
Company Universal Music Group
What Makes Him Haute The chairman and CEO of Universal is responsible for guiding the overall global activities of the world’s largest music company. He’s worked with some of the most popular and influential artists of the past four decades including Bette Midler, Led Zeppelin, Mariah Carey, and The Rolling Stones. Morris serves on the board of directors of The Robin Hood Foundation and The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and is also a director of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Peter Morton
Category Entrepreneurs
Industry Hospitality
Company Hard Rock Cafe
What Makes Him Haute He’s the co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe and sold the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel to New York-based Morgans Hotel Company for $770 million. His father is the founder of Morton’s, The Steakhouse, and his son, Harry, is behind the interestingly named Pink Taco chain.

Charles Munger
Category Billionaires
Industry Finance
Company Berkshire Hathaway
What Makes Him Haute Munger met Warren Buffet at a dinner party in 1959, and the two began investing together. He is now referred to as Buffet’s “indispensable consigliore.” Munger serves as the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, where he owns shares valued at $2.2 billion.